Bar feeder



Sept. 2, 1952 B. GRAY -ErAL BAR FEEDER '5 Sheets-Sheet 1 Filed Nov. 17,4194.9

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Sept. 2, 1952 v B. GRAY ErAL BAR FEEDER 3 Sheets-Sheet 2 Filed Nov. 17,1949 Sept. 2, 1952 B. GRAY nu.. 2,609,107

BAR FEEDER Filed Nov. 17, 1949 Z5 Sheets-Sheet 3 Hes/vnf Patented Sept.2, 1952Y BAR FEEDER Basil Gray and George Shewan--Cleghorm Shef' field,England, assignors to'vEnglish'Steel Corporation Limited, Vickers Works,Sheffield, England, a British company Application November 17, 1949,Seral'No. 127,970A 1 In Great Britain NovemberZZ, 1948 v This inventionrelates to bar reeling machines and is concerned with the provision ofimproved feeding means for such machines.

In existing reeling machines, it is the usual practice toplace a bar tobe reeled in C brackets which are normally provided inline with themouth of .the machine, and then to feed the bar forward into the rollsof the reeling machine by hand. If the leading end of the bar isdistorted in any way the rolls may not grip it immediately and theoperator then has to give the bar a partial twist or rotation by hand.Immediately the rolls grip the bar, it oscllates and thrashes violentlyand this leads to numerous and serious accidents to the operators ofsuch machines.

A main object of the present invention is to facilitate the feedingoperation in a manner which obviates the necessity of theabove-mentioned dangerous hand feeding.

According to one aspect of the present invention there is providedfeeding means for a bar reeling machine, said means including a yeldablebuffer device which is provided for the transmission of pressuretherethrough to the trailing end of a, bar when the latterv is locatedin the feeding position with its leading or forward end close to the nipbetween the first rolls of the machine, and which is adapted, onyieldingr during the application of said pressure, to impart a twist tothe bar, the arrangement being such that, if the leading end of the barcannot readily enter. the nip from said feeding position, the buiferdevice yields and in so doing rotates the bar about its vlongitudinalaxis until the said leading end is brought to a position in which it canreadily enter the nip.

According to a more limited aspect of the invention, a buffer or rammeris resiliently carried by a mounting which latter is displaceable forthe purpose of applying axial pressure, through said buffer or rammer,to the trailingl end of a bar when the latter is located in the feedingposition with its leading or forward` end within or close to the mouthof the machine, said buffer Figure 1 is aside elevation, partiallybroken Claims.

away, showing the bar feeding meansof thet iii-j v vention together withtwo C brackets,

`wardly directed channel-section tracks I are mounted on a raisedsupporting structure 2 which is arranged to extend in line with themouth of the bar reeling machine (not shown) and which also carries thenormal C brackets 3 towards the end nearer the said mouth. The feedingmeans proper is carried on a frame 4 mounted on wheels 5 which arearranged to engage Vand run in the aforesaid tracks I. Clamps 6 (Figure5) are providedto lock the wheeled frame 4 in any desired position alongthe tracks I according to the length of the work-pieces to be fed tothereeling machine. V y

The frame 4 carries a pair of spaced parallel runways or rails 'I whichextend parallel to the tracks 'I and which have wheel guards 8 -boltedthereon as shown clearly in Figures 3 and 4. The wheels '9 of a carriageIU are arranged to runv on the aforesaid runways or rails 1, theaforesaid wheels 9 being enclosed on their outer faces by the wheelguards 8. A part of the carriage II] is in the form of a cylindricalcasing II which isA disposed horizontally so that its longitudinal axiswill be substantially in line'with the longitudinal axis of a bar to befed into the machine when the bar is supported in the feeding position'in the C brackets 3. The end'of the cylindrical casing II remote fromthe C brackets is'closed by an end plate I2 having a central aperturetherethrough. A hollow cylindrical-buffer or rammer I 3 having an openinner end, is arranged to operate partially within the cylindricalcasing II and is guided therein by means of an axially extending rod I4the forward end of vwhich is attached to the outer'or forward end of thebuffer and the rear end of which extends through and is guided by theaperture in the rear plate I2.

A coil spring I5 is arranged to surround the rod I4 within the casingandbu'ffer and tends to urge the vbuffer outwardly from the casing. Theend of the spring I5 towards the rearof thecas-L ing surrounds and isguided by a sleeve-member IIa which projects from the inner face oftherear plate I2. The inner end of the buffer or rammer is provided with anoutwardly extending annular rim I6 which is arranged to abut against aninwardly extending annular rim I'I on the forward end of the casing IIso as to limit the outward stroke of the buffer. At the outer end of thebuffer I3 there is mounted a head I8 in the form of a hardened steelplate the outer face of which is dished or formed with a shallow conicaldepression having radial teeth I9 therearound. It should, of course, beappreciated that this head may take various alternative forms other thanthat shown in the drawings. A roller 20 extends radially from theperiphery of the buffer I3 adjacent the rear end thereof and, when thebuffer is in its forward position as shown in Figure 1, is arranged toengage in the forward end of a helical slot 2| formed in the peripheryof the cylindrical casing.

An air cylinder 22 is bolted on the frame 4 so that its longitudinalaxis extends parallelto the tracks I and a pistonv23 attached to apiston rod 24 is arranged to work within the said cylinder. Attached tothe outer end of the piston rod 24 is a cross-head 25 the lower surfaceof which is shaped to engage a slide 2G which latter is bolted to theframe i as shown in Figure 4. Extending transversely through thecross-head 25 is a stub axle 2'I which rotatably carries a pinion wheel28 at each end. The pinions 28 are respectively arranged to engage andrun on a pair of bottom racks 29 which are bolted to the frame 4. The

racks 29 extend, as shown in Figure l, forwardly from the pinions 28.

Secured to the under-surface of the carriage II) are a further pair ofracks 30 with which the pinions 28 also engage and whichpextendrearwardly from the pinions 28 when the carriage Illis in the retractedposition as shown in Figure 1. These racks 3B are L-shaped incrosssection and are each respectively positioned in the same verticalplane as the corresponding bottom rack 29. On each side of thecross-head 25 near the top thereof` are mounted two, rollers 3| whichare arranged to run on the upper surfaces of the horizontal arm portionsof the racks 30.

Pivotally mounted at the forward end of the cross-head 25 is atransverse plate 32 carrying a bar support roller33 at its upper end.The plate 32 can pivot forward to move the support roller 33 out of theway of a thrashing bar end during a feeding operation, and is returnedto the upright position by slotted link means 32a when the carriagereturns to its position of rest. Secured to the forward end of the wheelguards 8 and in front of the C brackets 3 is a V-shaped bar support 34which also serves as a front stop. A rear stop 35 for the carriage isalso provided across the opposite ends of the wheel guards 8 as-shown.

Compressed air can lbe supplied to the cylinder 22 on either side ofthepiston 23 in known manner, the -supply being normally controlled byhand-operated levers (not shown).

The C brackets 3 are preferably mounted on pivots 3a, as shown, s0 thatthey can be swung aside out of the path of the frame 4 when no*`required for use.

In operation, the position of the fra-me 4 is first adjusted along thetracks I according to the length of bar to be fed into the reelingmachine. Then, assuming that the bars are of sufficient length torequire the use of C brackets to provide additionalk support, a bar isplaced in these brackets sothat therearend of the bar rests on thesupport roller 33 and V-support 34 whilst the forward or leading end ofthe bar enters the mouth of the machine (not shown) up to the nip of thefirst rolls in the machine. To this end, the machine mouth may beprovided with a conical leadin tube having its outer end cut-away on abevel to facilitate the entry of the bar. The pneumatic piston andcylinder arrangement is then operated so that the cross-head 25 movesalong its slide 26 to the right as seen in Figures 1 and 2 of thedrawings, that is towards the mouth of the machine. YThis movement ofthe cross-head causes the pinions 28 to move along the bottom racks '29and, the latter being iixed, the top racks 30 together with the carriageare thereby caused to move forward at twice the speed of the crosshead.The buffer or rammer I3 is thus brought up against the rear end of thebar so as to exert axial pressure thereon in the feed direction. Theconical or dish-shaped buffer head tends to cause the trailing end ofthe barto move into the centre of the head. If the bar is grippedbetween the nip of the rolls as soon as pressure is applied to thetrailing end thereof, it will be rapidly drawn away from the carriageand'buifer and the pneumatic mechanism can then be operated to reversethe carriage. If, on the other hand, the rolls do not immediately gripthe bar, due possibly to some slight distortion, the resistance to feedduring the forward movement of the carriage will cause the buffer I3 tosetback and compress the coil spring whilst increasing the end load onthe bar. When the buffer is thus set-back, the roller 20 travels alongthe helical slot 2l so that the buffer is turned about its longitudinalaxis simultaneously with tlie setback. During this turning motion, theteeth on the buffer head tend to bite into the trailing end of the barso as to apply a torque or twist thereto. This causes the bar to rotateabout its longitudinal axis until the leading end moves into a positionin which it can readily pass between the nip of the rolls. Once in thisposition the rolls operate to draw the bar rapidly away from thecarriage which can then be reversed by operating the pneumatic means asaforesaid.

As will be appreciated, the operation of the carriage is not limited topneumatic means as described and it may obviously alternatively beoperated or traversed by hand, mechanical or any lother means. Likewisethe main spring of the buffer device could be replaced by a pistonacting against a cushion of compressed air within the casing or by someother suitable arrangement. The carriage could also, for example, betraversed by a system of chains and'pulleys operated by an air cylinderand piston assembly.

We claim:

1. Apparatus for feeding a bar reeling machine comprising means forsupporting a bar to be i'eeled with its leading end close to the mouthof said machine, a displaceably mounted yieldable buffer devicearranged, on displacement, to apply axial pressure to the trailing endof said bar, means for displacing said buffer device to apply saidpressure, and means associated with said buffer device for operation onset-back of the buier during said pressure application to twist said barabout its longitudinal axis. y

2. Apparatus for feeding a bar between cooperating rollers of a barreeling machine comprising means for supporting said bar in a positionsubstantially in line with the nip between said rollers and with itsleading end close to the said nip, a yieldable buffer device movablealong a track to apply pressure to the trailing end of said bar, andmeans for moving said buffer device to apply said pressure, said buiferdevice being arranged to yield if, on the application of said pressure,the bar cannot readily enter said nip and, on yielding, being adapted toapply positive torque to the trailing end of said bar to twist thelatter into a position in which it can readily enter said nip.

3. Apparatus for feeding a bar reeling machine comprising means forsupporting a bar to be reeled with its leading end very close to the nipbetween the first rolls of said machine, a track extending parallel tothe feed path of said bar, a butler resiliently carried by a buffercylinder mounted on said track for displacement therealong to applyaxial pressure, through said buffer, to the trailing end of said bar,means for displacing said louder cylinder along said track, means forrotating said buffer in its cylinder if the buffer is caused to set-backduring the application of said pressure, and means for transmitting saidrotary movement of the buffer to the trailing end of said bar to twistthe latter about its longitudinal axis.

4. Apparatus as claimed in claim 3 in which said track is-in the form ofa pair of horizontal rails and said buier and buier cylinder form partof a wheeled carriage arranged to run on said rails.

5. Apparatus as claimed in claim /lfurther comprising a main supportingstructure for said apparatus, tracks carried by said structure, awheeled frame arranged to run on said tracks and carrying said rails onwhich said wheeled carriage is mounted and clamping means for securingsaid wheeled frame in any predetermined position along said mainstructure tracks depending upon the length of bars to be fed into themachine.

6. Apparatus as claimed in claim 5 further comprising C brackets carriedon said main structure and positioned in the direct feed path betweensaid frame and the mouth of the reeling machine to provide additionalsupport for a bar to be reeled.

7. Apparatus as claimed in claim 6 further comprising pneumatic meansfor displacing said buffer and cylinder carriage along said rails.

8. Apparatus as claimed in claim 7 in which said pneumatic means is inthe form of an air cylinder and piston arrangement having one part fixedon the said frame and the other part movable relatively thereto andincluding a pinion and rack arrangement for connecting said relativelymovable part to said carriage whereby the latter can be caused to moveat twice the speed of said relatively movable part of the pneumaticassembly.

9. Apparatus for feeding a bar reeling machine as claimed in claim 3further comprising a coil spring arranged within said buffer cylinder tourge said buffer outwardly from the cylinder, a roller extendingradially from the periphery of said buier and engaging in a helical slotin the wall or" said cylinder so as to travel along said helical slot onset-back of the buffer and cause the latter to rotate, and a shallowdished head on the buier having teeth thereon for gripping the trailingend o-I said bar.

l0. Apparatus for feeding a bar reeling machine comprising means forsupporting a bar to be reeled with its leading end close to the mouth ofthe machine, a displaceably mounted yieldable buffer and cylinder devicearranged, on displacement, to apply, through said buier, axial pressureto the trailing end of said bar, means for displacing said buier andcylinder device to apply said axial pressure, co-acting means providedrespectively on said buffer and cylinder to cause the buier to rotate inthe cylinder on set-back and gripping means on the operative face ofsaid butler arranged to grip said trailing end of the bar so that, ifthe buiier sets back during the application of said pressure, the bar issimultaneously twisted about its longitudinal axis.

BASIL GRAY. GEORGE SHEWAN CLEJGHORN.

REFERENCES CITED The following references are of record in the file ofthis patent:

UNITED STATES PATENTS Number Name Date 515,376 Taft Feb. 27, 18942,519,837 Lampard Aug. 22, 1950

